ABSTRACT
It is quite a difficult task to talk about the application of the law in dispensing justice without giving full recourse to evidence. In court proceedings there are certain facts provided for the use of the court in ascertaining judgement that needs to be proven- whether it be confessions made or even dispositions asserted, they need to be built on the confidence that firstly- they are true, secondly- they really occurred and thirdly- they not based off from some speculative or subjective opinion of “some” individual. This means of proving is referred to as evidence. This word “Evidence” can also be used to describe the items that are provided to assert such statements in the law court. Although there is no statutory definition of the word “Evidence”, Black’s Law Dictionary 11th Edition defines Evidence as ‘any species of proof or a probative matter, legally presented at the trial of an issue, by the act of the parties and through the medium of witnesses, records, documents, concrete objects, for the purpose of inducing belief in the minds of the court or jury as their contention’. From this definition it can be seen that Evidence is the means by which the facts in issue are being proved or disproved in the law court. The Law of Evidence in Nigerian Courts is primarily regulated by The Evidence Act 2011(As amended).
Over the years the world has evolved to a more digitalized form of economy and the Law generally ought not to be left behind. The Sphere of Evidence in the Jurisdiction of Nigeria took the same form in the enactment of laws as regards adopting digitalized form of evidence as Justice was not fully met by relying on the old provision. Before 2011, The Evidence Act 1945 Cap E 14 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 did not make provisions for the admissibility of electronically- generated evidence and this aspect of evidence was not largely accepted in courts as admissible but the National Assembly saw it necessary to enact a new Evidence Act on the 3rd day of June, 2011 and this Act embraced the need for the acceptance of electronically- generated evidence in the courts in Nigeria as seen in Section 84 of the same Act.
This is a welcome innovation. However, laws are not enacted for the mere sake of the “new letters” resting in the books on the shelves, but these laws are enacted to solve the problem which warranted the re-enactment or enactment so to speak, to cause a change and to bridge the gap of the injustice caused by the non-existence of such laws. This is one of the issue of the new provision on the admissibility of electronically generated evidence as seen in its applicability in Nigerian Courts from the enacted year (2011) till date (2024).
This essay aims to examine in full details the realm of admissibility of electronically generated evidence in Nigerian Courts using The 2023 Presidential Election Petition as a case study and to also consider how Nigerian Courts have come to accept the innovations of the present Evidence Act; The challenges, problems posed to the admissibility of electronically-generated evidence and proffer recommendations to solve the challenges and problems.
